Senior Sourcing Specialist

At Vast, our mission is to contribute to a future where billions of people are living and thriving in space. We are building artificial gravity space stations, allowing long-term stays in space without the adverse effects of zero-gravity. Our initial crewed space habitat will be Haven-1, scheduled to be the world’s first commercial space station when it launches into low earth orbit in May 2026. Our team is all-in, committed to executing our mission safely and on time. If you want to work with the most talented people on Earth furthering space exploration for humanity, come join us.

Vast is looking for a Senior Sourcing Specialist reporting to the Manager, Sourcing, to support the development of the systems that will be required for the design and build of artificial-gravity human-rated space stations. This will be a full-time, exempt position located in our Long Beach location. 

Responsibilities: 

• Cradle-to-grave management (demand identification through fulfillment) of assigned commodities/categories
• Uses existing deep sourcing and supplier management experience within the assigned commodity, operate at ALL levels of the organization and move seamlessly from strategic to tactical
• Regularly and consistently conducts market research to identify potential subcontractors, evaluate their capabilities, and negotiate contracts and agreements per RFQ/RFP guidelines 
• Integrates program, customer, product and in-service strategies into source selection, negotiation and contracting strategies
• Manages supply and demand, schedules, supplier quality, delivery and financial performance
• Initiates and executes supplier improvement activities and integrates results into contracting strategies
• Drives Value Engineering solutions to improve cost, leadtime, and quality solution for Vast.  This includes experience with  BOM cost and generating should-cost analysis to negotiate and manage best value for Vast

• Coordinates and collaborates with key stakeholders such as legal, contracts, finance, planning, operations, program management, engineering, and quality to effectively manage supplier performance in the best interests of Vast

• The selected candidate should thrive in a fast-paced work environment with high expectations, significantly diverse assignments, and collaborative team settings across all levels

Minimum Qualifications:

• 4 years in a Procurement role, 2 years in aerospace industry and/or manufacturing
• Bachelor of Science degree in Business or Engineering

Preferred Skills & Experience:

• Ability to create and update request for proposals (RFPs), purchase orders (POs) and facilities work orders in an enterprise resource planning (ERP) software
• Ability to work effectively in a team environment
• Ability to make independent judgments with limited information
• Communication skills for relaying data (verbally and in-writing) between other employees, vendors, and customers
• Comfortable working in a high-stress environment balancing several projects at any given time, and the flexibility to adjust for abrupt changes in strategic direction
• Ability to balance multiple priorities with ambiguous instructions

Additional Requirements:

• Ability to travel up to 20% of the time
• Willingness to work evenings and/or weekends to support critical mission milestones

Salary Range: California$120,000—$145,000 USDCOMPENSATION AND BENEFITS   Base salary will vary depending on job-related knowledge, education, skills, experience, business needs, and market demand. Salary is just one component of our comprehensive compensation package. Full-time employees also receive company equity, as well as access to a full suite of compelling benefits and perks, including: 100% medical, dental, and vision coverage for employees and dependents, flexible paid time off for exempt staff and up to 10 days of vacation for non-exempt staff, paid parental leave, short and long-term disability insurance, life insurance, access to a 401(k) retirement plan, One Medical membership, ClassPass credits, personalized mental healthcare through Spring Health, and other discounts and perks.We also take pride in offering exceptional food perks, with snacks, drip coffee, cold drinks, and dinner meals remaining free of charge, and lunch subsidized as part of Vast’s ongoing commitment to providing high-quality meals for employees.

U.S. EXPORT CONTROL COMPLIANCE STATUS

The person hired will have access to information and items subject to U.S. export controls, and therefore, must either